Solanum indicum

Plant Profile

Solanum indicum - plant

Therapeutic uses

• The Solanum plant is reported to be bitter, acrid, astringent, carminative, stomachic, resolvent, demulcent, diuretic, emmenagogue, febrifuge, and cardiotonic.
• It is useful in the treatment of asthma, catarrh, dropsy, chest pain, chronic fever, colic, dry and spasmodic cough, oedema, scorpion stings, difficult urination, and worm infestation.

Morphological characteristics

• Bari kateri is a stiff, much-branched, prickly shrub growing upto a height of 0.3–1.5 m. Prickles are sharp, often slightly recurved, short hooked, and have a broad compressed base.
• Stem is stout and the branches are covered with minute stellate brown hairs.
• Leaves are ovate in outline, sparsely prickly on both sides, and measure about 5–15 cm × 2.5–7.5 cm.
• They are clothed above with simple hairs and have bulbous base intermixed with small stellate ones, while small stellate hairs cover them on the lower surface.
• Petioles are prickly and about 1.3–2.5 cm long.

Floral characteristics

• Flowers occur in racemose, extra-axillary cymes.
• Pedicels are 6–13 mm long, stellately hairy, and prickly.
• Calyx is 3 mm long, with stellate hair and triangular teeth.
• Corolla is about 8 mm long, pale, purple, clothed outside with darker, purple, stellate hairs; lobes are 5 mm long, deltoid, ovate, and acute.
• Fruit is a globose berry, green with white lining when young and becomes yellow when ripe.
• Sometimes it has a few stellate hairs at the apex.
• Seeds are small, many, and discoid.
• Flowering occurs in September–October, while fruits begin to appear in October.

Distribution

• The species is commonly found throughout the tropical and subtropical India.

Climate and soil

• Brihati grows well in tropical regions where annual rainfall ranges from 1000 mm to 1500 mm.
• Sandy loam soil is found to be suitable for the cultivation of this plant.
• The species is xeric in nature and can grow well in shady places and in areas that receive low rainfall.
• This species may also be inter-cropped in tree plantation sites.

Propagation material

• Seeds can be collected in May–June from mature fruits and can be sown directly in the main field.
• Plantlets can also be raised in nursery through seeds.

Agro-technique

Nursery technique

• Raising propagules Planting material can be raised in nursery in May– June.
• One- to one-and-half-month-old seedlings are planted in the field during July–August.
• Direct seed sowing in a plantation can also be done.
• Seed is sown in well-prepared nursery beds (size 10 m × 1 m) in June in shady places or in temporary mist chambers of size 10 m × 15 m.
• FYM (farmyard manure) @ 50 kg and poultry manure @ 2 kg are mixed in soil at the time of bed preparation before sowing seed.
• Irrigation is done twice a day after sowing to maintain proper humidity.

Propagule rate and pretreatment

• About 4 kg of seeds are required for sowing in the nursery for planting in 1 hectare of land.
• No presowing treatment of seeds is required.

Planting in the field

Land preparation and fertilizer application

• Land preparation is done in June before rains.
• Land should be ploughed well and made weed-free.
• Drainage channels should be constructed in the field.
• This species does not tolerate water stagnation.
• Five tonnes of FYM per hectare is mixed thoroughly at the time of field preparation.
• The FYM should be properly mixed with the soil before rains.
• No inorganic fertilizer is needed.

Transplanting and optimum spacing

• Nursery-raised seedlings are planted in the field with a ball of earth.
• Preferably seeds are directly sown in the well prepared field.
• The germination commences after nine days of sowing and continues till 40 days. Generally, 20–30 days are required for optimum germination.
• A spacing of 30 cm × 30 cm in the field is optimum for good growth and productivity.
• The optimum crop stand is about 111 000 plants/hectare.

Intercropping system

• The species can also be grown as an intercrop beneath fruit-tree orchards.

Interculture and maintenance practices

• First weeding is done 15 days after transplantation or about a month after direct sowing in the field.
• Later, regular weeding is required at an interval of 20 days up to maturity of the plants.

Irrigation practices

• There is no need for irrigation if the annual rainfall is 1200 mm or more.
• During the fruiting period, that is, from November to February, irrigation may be done on alternate days.
• Since this species is perennial in nature, irrigation in the summer months helps the plants to survive.

Disease and pest control

• No serious diseases or insect pests have been observed in crop.

Harvest management

Crop maturity and harvesting

• Best time for harvesting is April after the species is 9–10 months old.
• Follow-up crop can also be obtained if plantation is maintained for second year.

Post-harvest management

• Plucking and collection of fruits are done in April and May.
• Collected fruits should be dried in shade.
• Dried fruits are kept in airtight containers.
• Roots may be dug out manually and washed in fresh water.
• Harvested roots should be dried in the sun for a short time and then in the shade for 10 days.
• Well-dried roots are stored in bags and kept in airtight containers.
• Disposal of the roots should be done within four months of collection, that is, before rains, to avoid fungal infection.

Chemical constituents

• Fruits and roots contain wax and fatty acids.
• Alkaloids solanine and solanidine are present in the roots and leaves.
• Fruits contain 1.8% of alkaloids and can find use in cortisone and sex hormone preparations.

Yield estimates

• About 800 kg of fruits and 300 kg of seeds are obtained as fresh yield per hectare.
• Approximately 20 quintals of dried root is obtained from a two-year-old crop.

Source : Agro-techniques of selected medicinal plants